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HOBBY: Road to the Crystal Brush: Part 2

6 Minute Read
Mar 1 2015
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Today we carry on with my Tomb Kings Crystal Brush entry log.  Pick up a paintbrush and follow along!

With my King on Chariot fully constructed it was time to start painting. I knew that the constructs and the king himself are what I was looking forward to painting the most. That meant starting with something I was less enthused about so that I want to keep going to get to the good stuff. The logical thing to start with was the base, that way I would have something to attach all the other parts to as I finished them. It was also the “easiest” so gave me a good way to flex my painting muscles and kind of warm up for the more complicated stuff.

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I had primed it with a bone color primer to speed up painting all of the sand. The first thing I did was give all the sand a wash of Tau Sept Ochre. I then drybrushed it with Screaming Skull and then played around with varying levels of further washes and drybrushes to give it a more natural and random look. I also used a very thin wash/glaze of Ushabti Bone in places to bring the varying colors closer together.

Next up was the rock itself which I painted with a base coat of Cathan Brown. After doing an all over wash of Agrax Earthshade I started highlighting it in chunks. I painted it in three sections the right side, the front, and finally the left side. I did this to cut down my work time each day and allow me to focus more on the quality of a smaller section. I find that I lose quality if I work on too large of an area all at the same time. This is mainly due to losing interest as I work on the same highlight layer for an entire painting sessions instead of getting to see at least one part of it come all the way to completion. I mostly highlighted it be using Cathan Brown and mixing in Screaming Skull. I also used plenty of glazes and went back and forth with highlights and adjusting shaded areas as I needed. If you want to know what being a competition painter is like, it means spending several days worth of painting sessions on just a simple rock. Everything has to be painted to the same level of quality. The skulls were done rather quickly using the same method I have used for the rest of my Tomb Kings, but with a little more time spent on them.

The last two things I needed to do on the base was the shield buried in the sand and the scarabs. The shield was done in the same manner as the gold and gems that I use later on the constructs. The scarabs were pretty fun. I again painted them in chunks. I did all of the wings at the same time, using white, Ulthuan Grey and Shadow Grey. The carapaces were broken down into tow or three parts and were painted with a mix between how I did the stone and gems on the constructs.

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With the base done it was time to move onto the constructs. These were primed black due to the color of the stone. I started with the one I was less interested in, again to give myself something to work towards.

All of the stone was painted using the same technique I outline in this tutorial. I just had to be a little more subtle with it since there are less hard angles on this guy. That mostly meant using more layers of the highlights as I built them up and pulling a few of them back with glazes of black.

The gold was basecoated with Balthasar Gold and then layered with Gehenna’s Gold. I used Balthasar and Reikland Fleshshade to add some shadows and depth to it and highlighted it by mixing in Runefang Steel.

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The gems were painted in a more stark way that I painted the stone. Basically I was less subtle between the highlights and left more pure black showing to emphasize that the highlights were due to light striking the reflective surface. I also made sure to leave the turquoise more saturated so it stands out from the stone. The last thing I did was add reflective white dots in spots where it made sense.

The turquoise decorations were painted in the same manner as the rest of my army. I did make sure to add a final highlight on the points of each triangle, I found it better helped emphasize the shape. The claws, teeth, and beard were painted to look like a white marble. I base coated them with Rakarth Flesh followed by a thin layer of pure white. I used Reikland Fleshshade to shade it and give it a creamy look. The blending was created by just mixing the white and Fleshshade together in varying degrees. I also painted the marble veins on in this way.

The glowing eye was painted using mixes of Dark Angels Green, Snot Green, Scorpion Green, and white. I know they are all old colors, I don’t use them often. It would work just as well with the new equivalents. I plan on putting together a tutorial on the effect when I get to that point on the second construct.

I stuck him on the base to make sure all of the colors worked well together. I am really happy with it. Now comes the hard task of making the second one match the first.

The stone is already done on the second guy and I have started on the gold. Since I took this picture I decided to go back with some green stuff and fix a few imperfections that the paint revealed. This means I need to touch up the stone in a few spots and repaint the gold on the hood, but in the end I think it will make a stronger piece.

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What’s the most ambitious model you’ve made?

Tyler is a life long painter and hobbyist and took home his first Golden Demon award at the 2012 Chicago Games Day with a follow up at the 2013 North American Games Day. More of his work can be found at his blog, Mengel Miniatures.

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Author: Tyler Mengel
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